Importing and Exporting Customers & Contacts with a spreadsheet

Tyler MacDonald Updated by Tyler MacDonald

Importing and Exporting Customers & Contacts

shopVOX is a comprehensive business management software designed for custom manufacturers, sign shops, and print shops. One of the essential features of shopVOX is the ability to manage your customer database efficiently. Importing and exporting customer data from a spreadsheet is a useful feature that can save you time and help keep your customer information organized. In this article, we will guide you through the process of importing and exporting customers in shopVOX.

Importing customer data into shopVOX can be a time-saving and efficient way to populate your customer database. Follow these steps to import customers from a spreadsheet:

Note: shopVOX Customer and Contacts importing and exporting is done through the CSV (Comma Separated Values) or XLS (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet)format. XLSX is not supported
  1. From the top tool bar, select Customers
  2. From the Customer screen, click the blue action button to see the options, and select From CSV
  3. The Import Customers Screen is broken into three main sections
    The top is your import progress, the middle is information about importing your data, and the bottom is where you import your file. All the information on this screen is very useful and you should take the time to read it over.
  4. From the middle section, click to download the sample file from the blue link
  5. Open up the downloaded example file in Excel, Open Office, or Google Sheets
    Note: the first row in the spreadsheet is the header row, and is a requirement when importing new or updated information
  6. As an example, in row three enter in a "New Customer", so you can test out the import feature
  7. Download the modified spreadsheet as a CSV file
  8. From the import screen upload your new CSV
  9. When shopVOX opens your CSV it will automatically attempt to map the columns based on the spreadsheet's first row. Since we are using the example file it should be a perfect match.
    From the import Mapping screen, you can see the Required Columns, followed by the expected Column names in bold, and below is the drop-down menu for each column, in case you were trying to match to an alternate spreadsheet.
    There are two options before clicking import. Option one, "Skip Duplicates - Update Nothing," is for importing new customers, and the importer will ignore existing ones. Option two, "Update Existing Customer Data" will update a Customer's data that already exists in your system
    Warning! The Company Name column is the key column. Altering the company name in any way from the spreadsheet will be seen as a new company. If you need to update the company name you are to do so from within shopVOX
  10. On a successful import, you will be told how many Customers were imported, as well as how many already existed. You would also be alerted at this point if there were any errors.
    Let's click "Go to Customers", to search for our newly created entry
  11. From the Customers screen type in your "New Customer" name into the search box, and you should see there is now an entry
  12. Clicking the link to the "New Customer" will bring you into the details screen
    Notice the "Show All Information" button on the bottom right. This is where you see the Contacts for the "New Customer"

Importing + Exporting Contacts

Importing Contacts works in the same way as Customers. With some minor differences that will be noted below.

  1. From a customer details screen, click "Show all Information" to see the Contacts at the bottom
  2. Importing new Contacts is the same as a Customer, except all your choices are based on Contacts. From the Blue Action button, select the Import "Contacts from CSV"
    Start by downloading the example spreadsheet and adding in any new contacts you wish.
    The Company Name is key when importing Contacts. The Company Name must be the same for each Contact belonging to the same company
  3. Open the downloaded example if Excel, Open Office or Google Sheets
    Note: Column A is the Company Name and is the key field to know what Company your new Contact belongs to
  4. For this example, we are adding in six contacts for the Customer "New Customer" by adding in more rows, and filling in the details. To speed up the process, you can copy one contact multiple times in the spreadsheet and change the necessary information to make it unique to those contacts.
  5. Download the CSV File
  6. Upload your CSV into the Contact Importer
  7. Map the Columns, select "Skip Duplicates - Update Nothing", then the green "Import Contacts" button
  8. Once imported you will see a message with success, duplicates, or failures
    Select "Go to Customers"
  9. Select your "New Customer", then "Show All Information"
  10. Scroll to the bottom to see the newly imported Contacts

In Conclusion

Managing customer data is a crucial aspect of running a successful business, and shopVOX makes it easy to import and export customer information from and to spreadsheets. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can efficiently import new customers into your shopVOX account and export customer data for various purposes, such as marketing campaigns or data analysis. Keep your customer database organized and up-to-date with these simple yet powerful features in shopVOX.

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